History of the programmes

The doctoral programmes at Jönköping International Business School have a short but successful history. The programmes started in 1995 and the first doctoral thesis was defended in 1997. Today around 70 doctors have graduated from JIBS. Read about their careers under Voices and Careers.

In 1995, Jönköping University was granted the rights to award PhD degrees in business administration, economics, political science and commercial law at JIBS. JIBS was launched in October 1995 and the doctoral programmes started one year after. Starting a doctoral programme at JIBS was part of the strategic plan for the school and the goal to enhance the educational level of the region. But JIBS was never meant to be a regional university - instead the goal was always to become an internationally accredited business school known for excellence in research and education in its focused areas of entrepreneurship and business renewal.

The first doctoral thesis was in Business Administration and was defended in December 1997 by Anders Melander, with the title Industrial Wisdom and Strategic Change in the Swedish Pulp and Paper industry 1945-1990. The first woman to defend her thesis at JIBS was Eleonor Alhager (Kristoffersson) in 2001.Her thesis was in Commercial Law and entitled Mervärdesskatt vid omstruktureringar which translates into VAT consequences of restructures of companies . The majority of the doctoral theses defended at JIBS are written in English. There are only a few exceptions in Commercial Law and one in Business Administration. Today around 70 doctors have successfully defended their doctoral theses at JIBS. Many have received prizes for their theses (see Awards and Scholarships).

JIBS doctoral programmes have always had a clear focus on entrepreneurship, business renewal and internationalisation. The focus on entrepreneurship in research has resulted in strong international recognition. Based on publications 1995-2006, JIBS was ranked ninth globally and third in Europe in entrepreneurship research. (Crump, Abbery & Zu, 2009). In the area of family business research JIBS was ranked number three in the world and number one in Europe.